Things That Cry in the Dark
by kazukomichiko7789
Summary: Four months ago, Fang was taken by the school. A week later, he disappeared. Three months ago, he came back, beaten, bruised, and exhausted. He hasn't said a word since. Will the Fang ever tell the flock what happened to him? Bad summery.
1. Chapter 1

From the corner of my eye, I saw a dark figure move past me. Turning, I saw Fang getting up from the chair that he had been sitting in and was leaving the room. I was starting to get late, so he was most likely headed to his room here at my mom's house, but I asked anyway.

"Fang, where're you going?" I asked said boy, even though I knew full well that I would receive a silent response. Fang looked my way, showing that he had heard me, before turning around again and leaving the room without a word.

"Has he said a word yet?" Iggy, who was sitting next to me on the couch, asked, worry etched into his face. He knew the answer to this question just as well as I had known what Fang's reply would be.

"No, save for when he's asleep," I told him.

"That hardly counts as talking! He's screaming in terror!" Iggy said harshly before settling down a little bit. "Sorry, I snapped a little right there. It's just that, it's been three months since he got back, and he still hasn't said anything to anyone. I'm worried. He's been having those nightmares since a week after getting back. Thanks for waking him up every night, by the way. It kills me to have to hear him like that," he told me.

"We're all worried, Ig," I said simply.

I stood up from the couch to get ready for bed and turned to Iggy. "It's getting late, Ig. We should head to bed as well," I told him. He nodded and put down the book that he had been holding. He had told me once before that holding books open in front of him, even if he couldn't see them, made him feel a bit more normal. Who was I to tell him not to?

"I still can't get it out of my head, when he got back," he said quietly. Even Ig, who hadn't been able to see Fang that night, had been able to feel the injuries that Fang had; none of us would be able to get that out of our memories.

Four months ago, the school had come back and taken Fang. The rest of the flock and I had finally been able to break into the school a week later, but we only learned that Fang had disappeared. Two weeks after that, Fang showed up on the doorstep, beaten, bruised, and exhausted. He didn't say where he had been and passed out almost right after I opened the door. He spent most of the first week that he was back in bed. He didn't eat. He didn't speak. He just slept and recovered. Then, one day, we suddenly saw him walk into the living room. He started eating. He didn't speak. It was around then that the nightmares started. He would scream while he slept, and at first we thought that the school had come back for him again. Every night, I would go into his room as soon as I noticed that the screaming had started to wake him up. Tonight, it would only be a matter of time before this happened again.

"Goodnight, Iggy," I said once we had come to my room.

"Goodnight, Max," he replied, continuing down the hall to his own room.

I threw on a nightgown and flung myself into bed and into dreamland. At about three in the morning I jolted awake at the sound of a harsh scream that came from the next room. Fang.

I quickly ran out of my room and into Fang's to find him thrashing around in his sleep. It made my heart lurch every time I heard him scream, time hadn't dulled that. The first night that this had happened, I almost cried when I had to come wake him. I held it in for the sake of the kids, and for Fang, but I ended breaking down when I was alone with Iggy.

I made my way over to his bed, still hearing the moans and screams of terror, and noticed the tears falling down his face. As I made my way over, I could have sworn that I had heard him moan out the word 'mom'. I reached out to shake Fang's shoulder and pull him out of his horrors, but hesitated for a brief moment. Coming back to my senses, I reached out again and shook Fang's shoulder.

"Fang," I called, "Fang, wake up," I said as he jack hammered out of the bed. He was panting hard, but, after a few long moments, his breathing started to even out. We stayed there, without moving, except Fang wiping the tears from his eyes. For what felt like forever; the only sound was our breathing, Fang's being a bit louder than my own. Finally, I turned to head back to my room. I took a step, then stopped and turned to face him again.

"Fang, I'm sorry," I started, feeling that I needed to tell him this. "I just, … there are times that, when I come in here to wake you up, I start wondering if I should let you stay asleep, if I should leave you in your nightmares. I'm so sorry for even thinking that. It's just that, when you have these nightmares, when you're screaming, I can hear your voice again," I told him, my head hanging low as I felt embarrassed and a bit ashamed of myself. After a moment, I turned again to leave, but stopped when I heard something break the silence.

"Max," came a low, husky, cracked voice from behind me, where the only person that was there was Fang.


	2. Chapter 2

I turned in shock to face Fang, who was starring at his black bed sheets. After a moment of total silence, I started to think that maybe I was hearing things, a figment of my desires. Right as I was about to leave, deciding that I was just crazy, he slowly raised his head and looked me in the eye, something that he had been avoiding most of the time that he had been back.

"I…I'm sorry, Max," he whispered, his voice cracking again from not using it in so long.

I'd like to say that I dealt with Fang speaking calmly, like the big girl I should be, but what I actually did is the farthest thing from that. I ran over to the bed and threw my arms around him, while a few tears fell down my cheeks. I felt Fang gingerly put his arm around me.

My tears quickly dried and I looked at Fang.

"So, what, are you going to start talking now?" I asked, praying to whatever God listened to bird-kids that he would.

He hesitated with his answer and I thought that he was going back to his silence, but, after a minute, he spoke again. "No... N-not really," he said with a guilty look on his face as I felt my heart drop into my stomach. Fang saw my depressed face and spoke again. "Max, I…I'm not ready to have… to have to face the others questions," he told me as his voice finally broke. I realized what he meant; he was still scared from whatever had happened. I nodded my head in understanding, but I couldn't help but keep feeling upset.

I got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to get him a glass of water. I got back and handed Fang the water. He quickly downed it while I couldn't stop myself from muttering, "So this was just some kind of tease."

Fang set the empty glass on the night stand with a force that meant that I shouldn't have said that. He looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to face me again. "Max, I'll make a deal with you," he started, his voice stronger now that he had drank some water. "On the nights that you come in to wake me up, we can sit around and talk for a bit," he offered. My heart raced at his words and the thought that this wouldn't be our last words for who knew how long. I thought for a moment and looked back at him with my reply.

"I've got two questions. First, why do you keep saying my name in almost every sentence? Second, what do you want out of your little deal?" I asked, because, well, let's face it, that's what deals are. Everyone needs to get something out of it, so what did Fang want from me in return? Slave for life, perhaps?

"Don't tell the others that I'm talking right now. That's all I want," he replied simply. I almost asked why, but that would be a stupid question. If he didn't want to deal with their questions, of course he wouldn't want them to even know that he had spoken to me. It made things easier on everyone. My heart raced with the agreement that we had come to.

"So, what happened while you weren't at the school? We didn't have a clue where you were for two weeks," I spoke after a moment of silence.

I saw Fang's eyes flash with fear and realized that that had been the wrong thing to ask. "Max, please, not yet. I…I can't do that yet," he said, his voice shaking and his eyes watering up. This made me want to know even more. I mean, really! What could have happened that it could almost bring Mr. Macho to tears, but I knew better than to bring it up again. He would do that when he was ready.

"That reminds me, you never gave me an answer to question number one. Why do you keep saying my name?" I asked, not failing to catch that he had done it again.

Fang looked away for a minute, in what almost seemed like what we would call embarrassment for normal people, before answering. "I just… well, I missed saying it," he said as I saw a light red tint come across his face.

Okay, so, can someone tell me when Fang became the emotional type who just loves to say his girlfriend's name? I let it the topic drop for now, despite how weird it was, and looked over to see his eyes drooping.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" I asked, almost wanting him to say no so that he wouldn't stop talking yet. He hesitated, looking uneasy in his decision, surely from the impending doom of the nightmares, but nodded in the end. He'd really changed from whatever had happened. Normally he would just shrug it off, say he would be fine, and stay up for the rest of the night. Or he just realized that he was going to sleep no matter what. He could do it on his own, or he could pass out from exhaustion. He lay back down on the bed and I pulled the covers over him, feeling like the good little girlfriend that I am. Getting into to moment, I leaned in to give him a small kiss on the cheek. Fang noticed what I was about to do and turned his head so that, instead of his cheek, we kissed square on the lips.

Fang sat up again and brought one of his hands up to cup my cheek as he tilted his head to deepen out kiss. I felt him bring his arm around my waist with his other hand on the small of my back while I wrapped my arms around his neck, letting one of my hands become tangled into his raven locks. My breathing came faster and faster as my lips moved with Fang's. God, I had been wanting to do this again for so long! After a moment that felt like forever, we broke away, both of us short of breath, and Fang laid down once again.

"I missed that too," he muttered, sleepily, before slipping back into dreamland. I felt my face heat up in a blush from the sudden lip locking with Fang.

I headed back to my own room to finish off my last few hours of sleep, wondering how tomorrow would work out. Would I be able to keep Fang and my midnight conversation a secret from the others? At the very least, Iggy would be suspicious of me getting back to bed later than I usually did after coming back from wake up duty. The last thought that went through my mind before I fell asleep was about was the kiss from a moment ago; it felt nice to have that happen again. Fang wasn't the only one that had missed doing that.


	3. Chapter 3

_Merry early Christmas to all of my lovely readers! I wanted to put this up on Christmas day, but I'm too impatient for everyone's wonderful reviews. ^^" I really do love them, though, guys. They make me want to keep writing, so keep 'em comming! I want to let you know that I probably won't be able to get the next chapter up untill after New Year's. Sorry, but I'm going to visit family in Colorado, so I'm gunna be a little slow on my writing. But, I promise to get it up soon! I might have been a little OOC with Fang in this chapter; I don't know. If you think so, than please forgive me. I only know a few things that are for sure going to happen in future chapters, so if anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them, they are more than welcome to be posted! Once again, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwannza, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays; take your pick! I love you all!_

* * *

The next morning, I woke up to the sun shining through my window and the little annoying birdies singing from the tree outside. Okay, that's a lie. I actually woke up to the _much more pleasant_ sound of Iggy pounding on my door and yelling that breakfast was ready. Please note the sarcasm. I pulled myself out of bed, left the room in my pajamas, and saw that he was still waiting outside.

"So what happened last night?" he asked, looking in my general direction.

"What do you mean?" I asked, hiding the alarm from my voice, even though I knew exactly what he was talking about and I had known that he was going to bring it up.

"You spent a long time in Fang's room last night," he pressed.

"I…uh…just wanted to make sure that he was okay," I told him. We both knew that it was just about the lamest lie since the missionary story, but Ig dropped the subject for now anyway.

"Well, like I said, breakfast is ready. We've got muffins," he said, knowing how much I liked them. What can I say? They're like puffy cookies!

I got to the kitchen, grabbed a muffin and walked over to the couch where I saw Fang was already settled into a chair munching on a muffin of his own. He looked over and sent me a small smile that overwhelmed me with happiness. This was probably the first smile that he had given any of us since before he was taken. I gave him a smile of my own as Angel walked into the room. Seeing her reminded me that I needed to be careful of what I thought about or the others would find out about Fang speaking again because of Angel's little gift.

The day went by pretty easily and soon the young ones were already headed to bed. We had spent the day sitting around the house and even played a few games like candy land. I would like to meet the person who invented this game, because whoever can come up with an entire world of junk food defiantly deserves a high five in my book. Angel gave me a look as she left for her room, a look that she and Iggy both had been giving me all day. After a while, Fang got up and left too. Finally, Iggy turned to me and brought up what I knew he would.

"So, all the bull aside, what happened last night?" he asked and I sighed deeply.

"Ig, I really don't want to talk about it," I told him. That was half true; I didn't want to betray Fang and break my end of the deal. Iggy scowled at me and dropped his head in a quick defeat before getting up and heading to bed.

" Whatever. See ya tomorrow," he muttered on his way out while I stood up as well. There was no point in staying up when no one else was. I got to my room, threw on a night gown, dived into my bed and fell asleep soon after.

Sometime in the ungodly hours of the morning, I heard Fang in his room. The screams were there but I noticed that they weren't as harsh as they had been on all the other nights. I quickly made my way to his room to find him thrashing around under his sheets which were thrown in every direction. I got to the edge of his bed and shook his shoulder as his eyes flew open. His breathing steadied when he looked at me and remembered that it was just a dream.

"Hey, you alright now?" I asked, the worry must have been obvious on my face while he nodded. I put my hand on top of his, which was shaking like a leaf, to say that I was there for him. Finally he relaxed and leaned against the bed frame with his hand still in mine.

"So," he started. My face lit up as he spoke, holding up his end of the deal. "I was thinking today," he told me.

"That's a dangerous hobby for you, isn't it?" I teased.

"Yeah, it's almost as dangerous as you trying to cook," he threw back. "What I was gunna say was that I don't really what to have to tell you everything all at once and I know that you are going to be about as patient as Gazzy and Nudge at an all-you-can-eat buffet when it comes to getting the story out of me, so I thought that, when we're talking like this, I could tell you a little bit of what happened each night," he offered. His voice was stronger than last night; it wasn't breaking, to say the least.

"That sounds good," I said, nodding. "What will we talk about tonight?" I asked.

"I don't know. What kind of things did you want to know?" he asked. "Except for _that_," he added, knowing that I would know what he meant.

I thought for a moment before speaking again, asking what all of us had been wondering. "How did you escape from the school?"

He hesitated for a moment. I didn't know if he didn't want to answer or if he was just trying to decide where to start. I guessed that it was the latter when he spoke up again, not quite at the point of his little tale. "Well, while I was at the school, they weren't doing any physical tests at the time. They…they wanted to learn more about the way we've all been mutating, you know, developing powers. They made this room where they could make me see…things…nightmares…illusions. They wanted to know whether or not we would mutate faster when we were under a lot of stress," he told me. I kept quiet and let him have the floor while he explained what had happened. "Each time that they did the experiment, the illusions would get more and more horrifying… I can't remember how many times I had watch erasers slaughter the flock in that goddamn room," he whispered, his eyes starting to water and his hand starting to shake.

"Fang, you don't have to…" I started to say before he cut me off.

"Yes, I do," he said. It was strange for me to see him like this, weak and vulnerable. For so many years, the rest of the flock and I had only seen him show his emotions a handful of times, and now it seemed like he was doing it on a daily basis. I didn't want him to force himself to relive the things that the school had done to him, but it looked like he was going to anyways.

"There was one test that I couldn't handle. The illusion was too much; all I could think about was being anywhere else but that room. The next thing I knew, I was in some file storage room in another part of the building. There were some papers left on the table in there from a file about me. I didn't have much time to look at them, but I saw an address somewhere on one of the pages. The whitecoats found me after that and put me back in my cage," he said with disgust at the thought of keeping a kid in such a place. "They had the results they wanted; I had developed another power. But, they still put me back in that room the next day. The illusion was worse than the one before, just like always. Again, all I could think about what getting away. I thought about the address that I had seen in the file, and, suddenly, there was fresh air around me, blue skies and all that happy shit. I was out, free. I had escaped," Fang said, looking away.

"I'm sorry, Max. If I had gotten better at my power faster, that I could have gotten back to you guys weeks sooner than I did. I don't even remember where that place was, the address that I went to the first time," he told me.

"Don't worry about that, Fang," I told him when I remembered something. I looked over at him suspiciously as I asked a new question. "If…if the school didn't do any physical tests, then how did you get so many injuries?" I asked him, remembering how beat up he had been the night he had made his way back to my mom's house.

Fang's eyes widened and his hand tightened around mine as he started shaking again. He took a deep breath before looking at me again to reply. "Next time," he whispered, his voice shaking. "I'll tell you next time we talk," he told me and I nodded.

"I think that's enough for now," I said after a moment. He had already said a lot; I couldn't imagine how hard just that must have been for him. He nodded and slipped back under the blankets. I stood up and turned to leave when Fang's voice came again.

"What? I don't get a goodnight kiss?" he called out.

I laughed, turned around again, and leaned down to meet his lips to mine. It wasn't like last night, intense and desperate; it was much softer this time. Fang brought his hand under my chin and leaned my head back a bit while he tilted his to the side to deepen the kiss. We didn't stay like this for long before it was broken by the need for air and the desire to not get caught by others.

"Goodnight, Fang," I said and left the room while he had already fallen asleep again by the time I shut the door. I turned to go back to my own room only to find Iggy leaning against the wall.


	4. Chapter 4

I felt the sun leaking in through the window and pulled myself out of whatever dream that wasn't important enough to remember. I looked over t the clock to see that it was already noon. Wow, that's the latest can remember ever sleeping. I dragged my body out of the comfy, warm bed and threw on some cloths for the day, a simple tee-shirt and jeans. Making my way to the kitchen to throw together some milk and cereal, about the only thing that I can make without turning food into toxic waste, I passed through the living room and saw Fang and Iggy, already up and watching TV on the couch. Iggy felt me passing by and looked in my direction to give me a dirty look as last night's events came back to my memory.

_I couldn't stop myself from drawing in a sudden gasp of air as I saw Iggy leaning against the wall, glaring in my direction, with great accuracy, I might add. Even though I knew that he couldn't see me, I felt myself avert my eyes from his gaze anyway._

"_When were you planning on telling me that Fang started talking again?" he asked in a tense whisper, clearly trying hard to not raise his voice._

_I was hesitant with my answer in my dismay and embarrassment at being discovered before I finally decided to answer boldly. "I wasn't," I told him._

_I saw him clench his fist tightly in anger as he inhaled and exhaled as slow, deep, shaky breath of frustration and thought that he might actually start yelling at me but, to my surprise, he turned on his heels and walked off towards his room, leaving my in the quiet of the night._

I finished off my surprisingly edible breakfast and went back to the living room to sit on the couch next to Fang, not failing to receive another lovely glare. I didn't pay much attention to whatever was on the TV; it was some sports game that Fang had put on. A moment later, Angel ran into the room and hurried over to me.

"Max, your mom said that she would take us to the mall today! Do you wanna come?" she asked me, excitedly.

"No thanks, sweetie. I think I'll just stick around the house for today," I told her. I knew that she would ask Fang next, and I knew that he would turn her down too; that means that I can hang with him for the day. Also, Nudge would defiantly say yes and, I'm sorry, but, as much as I love that kid, that motor mouth just gets ten times worse when she's in a mall. Gazzy would probably go with her to keep her company, anyways. Besides, malls mean people, lots of people.

As expected, she turned to the boys. "Fang, Iggy, will you come?" she asked.

"Sorry, I'm going to the movies with Ella today," Ig replied while Fang simply shook his head. I don't know why he would want to go just to listen to voices, but, again, who was I to tell him not to. He probably just wanted to spend some time with Ella, anyways; everyone could tell that he liked her.

Angel quietly walked out of the room, disappointed that there were no takers for the mall. She came back a little while later with Nudge, Gazzy, my mom, and Total, all ready to go.

"Max, we'll be gone for a few hours, so expect us back around dinner time," mom told me as Ella came around the corner to join Iggy.

"We'll be back whenever," he muttered as all of them walked out the door.

Seeing that everyone was gone but me and Fang, I glanced over at him before giving up my pride and strong attitude to move closer to him and cuddle up, laying my head on his chest. He looked at me for a moment then brought his arm around me to lay it on my waist. Giving a small, soft smile, he put his free hand on top of mine and held it softly, lightly stroking the back with his thumb. I don't know what made him turn into this kind of softie, but, hey, I'm not complaining.

We sat quietly for a while, not paying attention to the TV, just enjoying each other's comfort when, suddenly, I felt Fang's grip tighten a bit as he looked down at me with a heartbroken look.

"Fang? Are you alright? Do you want to talk now?" I asked, worried, seeing how much sadness was on his face.

He nodded in response. Before I was able to ask which question he was replying to, he spoke up.

"I…I met my parents," he said quietly, his voice and hand trembling, as he averted his eyes, looking down.


	5. Chapter 5

My jaw dropped in shock at this new information before I finally forced out slightly coherent words.

"H-how? When?" I stuttered, tightening my hand around Fang's.

"The address on the paper I found in the school, I told you that I ended up teleporting there during my escape; it's my parents house," he told me.

I didn't really know what to say now; I wanted to yell at him for not telling me this before, for doing something so unFanglike and reckless, but something held me back, so I settled for getting some answers instead. "So, what happened?" I asked him. "You were missing for almost two weeks; were you at their house that entire time?"

"Yeah," he said, simply. It was almost as though he was trying to test my patience.

"Did you introduce yourself?" I asked, tensely, hoping that he wouldn't have gone so far as to do something that stupid.

"N-not exactly," he muttered, looking away from me again.

"Fine, then what the hell did you do that took two weeks of leaving us worried shit-less?" I regretted raising my voice but I was getting annoyed and needed a question that he wouldn't be able to answer with a simple yes or no.

"I-I only meant to stay for a few days. I didn't go up to them at all; I hid in bushes and stuff in other yards. I just wanted to watch for a few days to see what they were like," he told me, keeping his voice steady for now. "We were right, by the way; my mom was a crack addict. She and my dad kept getting into fights over it, cost and stuff," he said with a look of disgust. "I finally decided that I had seen enough and I was getting ready to leave and come back here, but, when I turned around, he was standing behind me, m-my dad," he whispered shakily. Squeezing my hand, he continued. "I don't really know what happened, but I think he hit me over the head with a pipe. When I woke up, I was tied up in his basement and he was yelling at me, asking me who I was and why I was spying on him. My mom was there too; she was tied up next to me. He started yelling at her too, something about misplacing a stash of drugs. Then he…he hit her and something came over me and I yelled at him and I told him to stop, so he stopped hitting her. H-he switched to hitting me instead," he said quietly, his voice trembling again as he tightened his grip some more. "I-I don't know how long we were tied up there, me and my mom, but it must have been around a week. That bastard came back a few times a day to beat on us; sometimes he used his fists, others he would use things like pipes. He gave us a little bit of food and water each day so that we wouldn't keel over yet. The last day, though, he… he had gotten fired from work and he was really pissed. He…h-he just lost it when he got down to the basement and he just started pounding on my mom and he…" Fang cut himself off as his eyes started to water. I could only listen in horror and hold his hand while he told me the story.

"You can stop," I told him quietly, but he shook his head quickly before speaking again in a cracked voice.

"H-he slammed the pipe onto her head. She…h-her head started bleeding everywhere. I…I-I think he killed her, Max," Fang said quietly. "I mean, we didn't really talk while we were down there together, and I never told her or my dad who I was, but she…s-she was my mom. She told me about a kid that she had fifteen years ago and about how he died and the doctors wouldn't let her see the body. She told me that I looked a lot like him. M-Max, t-that was me. T-that was my mom," Fang whispered harshly, clearly on the brink of tears.

"M-my dad turned to me next and started to bring down the pipe to my head, but I dodged the first time and it slammed into my shoulder. I-I couldn't move from the pain and he was bringing the pipe dawn again. I screamed and…and the next thing I knew…I was here, outside the door," he said, his body shaking along with his voice, still trying to keep from crying. Before he could go on any farther, not that much would be left, I put my arms around his neck.  
"Fang, you…you don't need to hold back right now, not when you're with me. It's okay to cry," I told him softly as he collapsed into tears, burying his head into my shoulder. I could feel my thin shirt becoming wet from the warm drops and I felt Fang bring his arms around my waist, clinging to me as though his life depended on it; his sanity probably did. His body was shaking uncontrollably while the harsh sobs racked through his body as he continued to cry against me.

I'm not sure how long we sat there together, him letting out all of the emotion that had been building over the last few months, maybe even the last few years, while I ran my fingers through his hair with one hand and rubbed his back softly with the other. It scared me a bit to see Fang like this, weak and open; he was always the strong one of the flock, but I guess he went through as much crap as the rest of us. Actually, he went through a hell lot more, seeing as what happened while he was gone. He was just better at hiding the pain of it all, but it has to come out sometime.

After a while, his crying softened and he finally brought his head away from my shoulder and looked up at me, still shaking from the breakdown. It was a Fang that I had never seen before; his face was flushed and his eyes were swollen. I kept my arm around him and let him lean against me as he whipped the tears from his eyes spoke up once again.

"I-I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to do that. I'm supposed to be the strong one," he muttered and apology, accepting my silent offer and resting his head on my shoulder. I swear, that boy reads minds, though.

"Fang, you're always the strong one. Sometimes you just need to let it out and rely on someone else to be there for you instead of the other way around. I mean, come on, even I've lost it a few times and you were there to comfort me, so I can do the same for you," I told him and he nodded silently.

Since we were already having one of our close moments and getting all emotional, I leaned down and brought my lips to his in a tender kiss. I could feel him return the affection as he moved his lips along with mine. It was soft and comforting, like last night. Fang wrapped his arms around my waist, resting his hands on the small of my back, and pulled me closer to him while I brought my arms back around his neck and let my fingers become entangled in his hair. I wanted to stay like this forever, relaxed in his arms, feeling like the only thing that was in the world was me and Fang, but soon we heard the sound of the doorknob turning and knew that Iggy and Ella were back from the movies. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess.

We broke apart and settled back into the couch, our breathing uneven and our faces flushed. As expected, Ig and my sister walked in and looked over in our direction.

"Hi, Max," Ella called out, setting her purse down. "Your faces are red. Something happen?" she asked. It would have been too good to be true to think that she wouldn't notice.

"N-not really. We, um…we just went out for a fly," I lied quickly. It was kind of true; I was sure as heck on cloud nine for the last few minutes.

Ig threw his jacket down and took a seat next to us on the couch. He grabbed his book from the coffee table and opened it onto his lap, scanning it over with his sightless eyes. I was used to this by now; he did this almost once a day. Time passed while we watched TV absent-mindedly and I subtly sneaked my hand back over to Fang's, taking it in mine. After a while, Iggy suddenly put the book down and stood from the couch.

"I'll be in my room," he muttered, before quickly leaving the room. I looked over at Ella, hoping for an answer to the weird behavior, but she just shrugged.

"He started acting really weird after the movie. On the way back he looked really distracted and kept turning around, trying to hear everything around him, I guess," she told me.

"I'm gunna go talk to him," I said as I stood up from the couch and made my way down the hall to Iggy's room. I got to his door and politely knocked.

"Go away!" I heard him call from inside. Of course, we all know me and I opened the door anyways to see him lying on his bed on his back, looking up towards the ceiling without looking.

"Ig, you okay?" I asked as I came into the room, closing the door behind me.

He hesitated for a moment, probably debating whether or not to lie, before finally answering. "No," he said quietly.

"Ella said that you started acting weird after the movie. What's going on?" I questioned him as he sat up on the bed and turned in my direction.

"It was during the movie," he commented, correcting my information. Whatever, it didn't matter when he started acting weird, just why! "It was a good movie, by the way. I-it had really good effects," he said solemnly.

"Did Ella tell you about it?" I asked, not really caring about the movie. I didn't want to waste time getting to the point, but, if I humored him, he might tell me faster.

"No, I mean, she did, but I knew before," he told me in a strange voice. "I-I'm really happy that I got to see that movie."

"Okay, I get it, Iggy. It was a really good movie. Now, can you please tell me what's going on?" I asked, wanting the information he was hiding, feeling like I was missing something really important from what he had already told me

"No, Max, you don't get it! I got to see that movie! I _saw_ it!" he yelled at me as the pieces finally fell into place in my mind.

"You don't mean…Ig, can you see?" I asked hesitantly, waving my hand in front of his face like I had done in Antarctica. He didn't flinch.

"No," he muttered in a depressed voice. "I could, though. It went away a few minutes ago," he said shakily, his voice starting to tremble. "I-it always goes away."

"Has this happened before?" I asked, wanting to ask him why he hadn't told me before.

"Y-yeah," he replied, starting to shake.

"How many times has this happened? Why didn't you tell me?" I started my interrogation.

"I-it started about two months ago. I wanted to tell you, but with everything that had been going on with Fang, it seemed like a bad time to bring it up. It was really random at first. It happened, like, maybe once every week or two. But, now it's been happening two or three times a week," Iggy said, his voice cracking. I would think that he would be happy to get to see again, but it seemed more like he wanted to cry.

"Why are you so upset about this," I asked, feeling bad that I hadn't noticed anything before, as I took a seat next to him on the bed.

"I-it's just that, I lost my sight about seven or eight years ago. Even though the pain of losing that never went away, I-I got used to it. I accepted that I wasn't going to see again. Now, it's like I'm being teased, and, it this is just a temporary thing, if it goes away permanently again, I-I don't think that I would really be able to h-handle that," he told me, his voice cracking in several places again. I could see the tears that had started to flow down his cheeks. He let out a choked sob as I tried to bring my arms around him in a comforting hug that he pushed away at first before giving up. He pulled his legs up to his chest and let himself fall against me as another sob ripped through him. I never thought I'd see the day where both Fang and Iggy would cry, and for two totally different reasons.

He didn't let his moments of weakness last long and soon sat back up to support himself before speaking up once again.

"I don't care if you tell Fang about this, but don't say anything to Ella or the younger ones," he told me before adding, "Please,"

"Don't worry. I'll keep quiet," I promised as I stood from the bed. "Is there anything else you want to talk about before I go?" I asked, knowing that he would want some time alone.

"I just have one question. When me and Ella got back, Fang's eyes were red," he pointed out before continuing. "Was he crying?" he asked, getting to the point.

I hesitated with my answer, but he already knew that Fang had started talking to me again, and he was already mad that I had kept that from him, so I figured that it would be best not to lie. "Yes." I told him simply.

"But you won't tell me why, I'm sure," he asked.

"No, you want to know, go asked him yourself. I'll let him tell you when he's ready," I told Iggy, making my way over to the door.

"Fine. Another time though. Clearly, he's not ready yet," he said as I opened the door.

"Yeah, wait on that for a while. I'll see you later," I told him. I realized that it probably wasn't the best choice of words when I saw his face drop as I left the room.

I turned to walk back to the living room and saw Fang leaning against the wall like Iggy had done the night before.

"Is he okay?" he asked quietly so that no one would hear him.

"I don't know. Did you hear what he said?" I asked him.

"No, but it wasn't hard to hear him bawling from out here. What happened?" he questioned, a worried look crossing his face.

I told him what Iggy had told me and also informed him that Iggy had found out about Fang speaking to me.

"Crap. How did he find out?" he asked, his face showing that he was worried that I had gone behind his back and told him.

"Same way that you found out that Iggy was crying. He eavesdropped on us last night," I assured him.

"Well, shit happens, I guess," he muttered. "Well, what do we do now," he asked, changing the subject. I knew that he wasn't talking about what to do about Iggy, just what to do to kill some time now.

"I don't care. We could go watch TV," I suggested.

"Or I could kiss you," he said. I thought he was joking until he leaned in and closed the distance between us. I didn't protest at his choice of action and began to kiss back. It was a short kiss since we didn't want Ella to come around the corner and catch us, but I enjoyed it anyways and made the most of it. I moved my lips with his, letting him keep control of the pace. He pulled back after a moment and gave me a soft smile before turning to head back to the living room. I was about to follow when he suddenly turned back around, gave me a quick peck on the lips and chuckled softly before turning the corner and making his way back to the couch as I followed, my cheeks stained a light pink.

* * *

_*****IMPORTANT*****_

_***Please read*  
**_

_*********Yes, yes, how could I put Fang through something so horrible. Well, because I wrote the fanfiction and that makes me God. That's why._

_Thank you to everyone who has been reading, especially to those who started at chapter one! I love you and your reviews! Please keep sending them in; they make me so, very happy. Tell me what you like. Tell me what you don't like. Tell me what you think I should do better and how to make the story better. It will help me a lot. Also, I am running out of ideas about where to go with this story and what to do next, so please, please, please send in some ideas that you might have. I will love you and you will get major points, as well as recognition for your idea. Thank you, once again, to everyone! *********  
_


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